Our spiritual advancement must proceed according to the law of the spiritual world in which one-tenth is given outward rather than spent on oneself.

The Torah states this very simply: every person, even a poor person, regardless of who they are, must set aside Maaser, one-tenth of their net income; no more and no less. There is no getting around it. This is a rule of the upper world.

Therefore, we must give one-tenth of our income to the dissemination of Kabbalah, which is called giving to the Creator, because this portion belongs to Him: He corrects our Malchut; not we ourselves.

We correct the first nine Sefirot ourselves, and therefore, in our world, we keep 90% for us with regard to them. According to the correspondence between root and branch, I can properly use 90% of my resources for the sake of spirituality.

But I cannot correct the tenth part in the spiritual world in any way; the Creator corrects it. Accordingly, in this world, if I do not use this tenth part for myself but give it to dissemination. The Creator corrects it.

Moreover, a person who does not engage in spiritual work but sets aside Maaser is included in the spiritual work, because this is truly his contribution to spirituality according to the correspondence between root and branch. Conversely, whoever withholds this tenth from the dissemination of Kabbalah in any way, spiritually robs himself.
[362250]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot 10/1/26

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Question: How can there be a dispute between Kabbalists?

Answer: A Kabbalist is someone who is in the spiritual world and feels the spiritual. You are asking how they can perceive things differently? In exactly the same way as in our world.

There are so many scholars in this world who have disputes among themselves! One sees reality one way, another sees it another way. It is not that they see reality differently, but rather that their opinions diverge regarding the laws by which this reality behaves. It is a somewhat hidden thing, yet also somewhat revealed.

Let’s say we see some phenomenon. You think that the source of this phenomenon is such-and-such, and that is why it manifests itself in this way before us. However, what manifests itself before our eyes, we see the same way. But neither you nor I see what lies behind it.

These are already higher levels. It is quite possible that this is not even the next level but two hundred levels higher. We see reality as it is in our world, but the reason for what we see may be two hundred levels higher than what we have comprehended. And then we begin to reason: “Is it this way or that way?”

This dispute was between Baal HaSulam and Rashash. Baal HaSulam writes a little about it at the end of the book “The Gates of Intentions.” But what he writes is only a small fraction of the picture. This dispute is very fundamental for them, but not so much for us, because Rashash is truly a saint. What he achieved is holy, divine words for us.

But what he points to as the reasons for what he sees is actually two hundred steps higher. And since he has not yet reached that level, Baal HaSulam does not agree with him, because Baal HaSulam has achieved more and writes from the level he has attained. In his opinion, Rashash is not mistaken in what he presents to him as a fact. The facts are correct, but when he speaks about the reasons for what is happening, he is mistaken.

It is like in our world: there are two physicists whose debates are endless because they are discussing a cause that is hidden and may be very high and very far away. That is why there are many disagreements and differences of opinion among the Kabbalists.

And this is fair, for they are merely researchers. They study the Creator’s actions, and to the extent that they can align themselves with those actions, they comprehend them; to the extent that they cannot align themselves with them, they do not comprehend them. But the causes are always higher than what they comprehend. Moreover, they may also be mistaken in their interpretation of the causes, since it is impossible to give names to what has not been comprehended.
[360231]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/10/26, Rabash, “What Is the Gift that a Person Asks of the Creator?”

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The world remains unchanged; only we change within ourselves. It depends entirely on me, how I experience the Creator: in His “double concealment,” in “single concealment,” or in His direct relationship with me, “face to face.”

For His part, He is always present in the Kli (vessel), in a direct relationship with me. I perceive this according to the level of my correction. If all my qualities are corrected and I sense the Creator’s complete manifestation, then we are “face to face.” This state is called “adhesion,” (Dvekut) the “end of correction” (Gmar Tikkun), or the “world of infinity,” (Ein Sof) where no limitations exist.

To the extent that my 620 senses, sensations, desires, and qualities are uncorrected (they may be partially corrected and partially uncorrected, forming a spectrum of all 620 desires), each must be raised to the full height of all its ten particular Sefirot. Only then will all 620 desires reach their maximum height.

They may also be at different levels, one lower and another higher, like a spectral image or like the visual representation of sound on an equalizer, organized by frequencies. Suppose there are twenty selected frequencies, and we see how high or low each one is.

Similarly, we have 620 qualities, and each reaches a height of up to ten Sefirot. The height of each one determines the picture of the world presented to us. Our qualities are precisely those sensors into which the Creator enters. The more corrected they are, the more the Creator enters them; the less corrected they are, the less He enters them.

These degrees of the Creator’s manifestation in the 620 qualities draw the picture of the world for us. In the part of the 620 desires that is corrected, the Creator is present; this is called the “measure of the revelation of the Creator.” In the lower, still uncorrected part of the 620 desires, the Creator is not manifested; this is called the “measure of the concealment of the Creator.”

Thus, the word “world” (Olam) comes from the word “concealment.” It is the measure of the revelation and concealment of the Creator. Our lowest world is the complete concealment of the Creator. All the spiritual worlds exist according to a certain measure of the Creator’s revelation: in a particular combination and arrangement of my 620 desires, I already sense the Creator.

Why are these desires not all corrected equally? Because they differ both in quality and in their Aviut (egoism). This is why there is a world called Assiya.

The world of Assiya, characterized by the quality of Malchut, differs from the world of Yetzira, whose quality is Zeir Anpin; from the world of Beria, the quality of Bina; from the world of Atzilut, the quality of Hochma; and from Adam Kadmon, the quality of Keter. In addition to each world being a greater sensation and reception of the Creator, the quality of each of the 620 desires rises to one degree or another.

In other words, when ascending from degree to degree, not all 620 of my desires improve by, say, 10 percent: one may improve by only 1 percent, while another may improve by 8 percent.

Moreover, attainment changes not only through the general intensification of the sensation of the force in which I exist, but also in quality, in the way it affects me. It is the same in our world. We experience it not only as stronger or weaker in its manifestation toward us, but also by the character of that manifestation as more pleasant or unpleasant.
[361966]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/24/26, Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003

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Question: In the article “One Should Always Sell Everything He Has and Marry a Wise Disciple’s Daughter,” Rabash writes: “It is said in The [Book of] Zohar about the verse, ‘The leech has two daughters’—who cry out like dogs, saying: ‘Give, Hav, us the happiness of this world; give, Hav, us the happiness of the world to come.’”

That is, there are two daughters who cry out like dogs: “Give us the happiness of this world; give us the happiness of the world to come.” Does a person want both this world and the world to come?

Answer: There is not a single state that a person does not go through on the path toward the goal. The Creator created everything in one Kli, and every vessel consists of all the desires. Regardless of a person’s character, his natural disposition, or which part of Adam HaRishon his soul belongs to, he must nevertheless pass through all the obstacles.

Of course, each person goes through them in his own way, but everyone must pass through all these desires, including the state described in The Book of Zohar: two daughters who cry out like dogs, “Give us the happiness of this world; give us the happiness of the world to come.” This means wanting only to receive rather than to bestow.

When there is a desire for both this world and the world to come, that is good. At the next stage, a person comes to desire only the world to come, and this is a true Klipa.

Sometimes Rabash uses “this world” to mean the intention to receive for oneself, and “the world to come” to mean the intention to bestow. When speaking about “dogs,” he means that even regarding the world to come there is an intention to receive for oneself, that is, Klipot.

One must look at the context to understand what is being discussed, because in different cases the same words can have different meanings.
[360279]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/26, Rabash, “One Should Always Sell Everything He Has and Marry a Wise Disciple’s Daughter”

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Question: What is the spiritual community that we are currently like “unripe fruit”? On the other hand, you said that the task of each person today is to pull their “I” out of themselves and dissolve it into the members of the group.

Answer: Yes, a person must pull their “I” out of themselves and dissolve themselves in the group.

The group is a circle into which we try to throw ourselves, leaving our “I” outside the circle. We do this only in our inner efforts. We do not, under any circumstances, applying this to everyday life. We do not establish a common treasury, as in the kibbutzim or some other communal life; we do not try to create one common family, some kind of community in our world; this all relates to the problem of the last generation. God willing, we will approach it someday as well.

We are not building a Kabbalistic society, but a Kabbalistic group that engages only in inner efforts (each person within themselves) and in combining all these efforts with one another, in order to reach a critical mass and cause the revelation of the Creator, which will immediately raise us all to the next degree.

As soon as, at the next degree, we again reach a critical desire and prepare ourselves through our inner efforts for a common Kli, the Creator will immediately reveal Himself again, correct us again, and in this way, we will again be filled with Him at the next degree. And so it is every time. The method is practically the same at every degree.

We are not engaged now in correcting our lives. Each of us continues to live in their family, continues to work at their job. We only create our spiritual community, an invisible one, where our common desires, our aspirations toward the Creator, come together and cause a great surrounding light to act upon us. This is the only thing we are doing now.

But for this, if necessary, perform some joint actions. However, joint does not mean relating to all our everyday problems and way of life. What we do together is, for example, build a Sukkah, some work in dissemination, or create our common center, that is, everything that relates to the spiritual, but at the same time is some external shell of it.

This can be done, but nothing more. This is what it means not to eat the “unripe fruit,” not to climb onto the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” We are not yet allowed to climb onto it, but later we will have to.

From this time onward, you will begin to see how much faster your development will go, and how much faster the states will begin to change one after another. You will see how what previously had to take months and years and was generally so difficult, somehow dragging along, will fly forward.
[362227]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the Holiday of Sukkot, 9/30/26

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Humanity is gradually developing, and many people are emerging who want much more than what this life offers. But those whose desire is still within the framework of this world should simply do what is written, as everyone else does.

However, those whose desire is directed toward spirituality, who are no longer satisfied with this world, merely observing the Torah is insufficient; they require intention. For them, the action is the intention—a striking coupling with the light (Zivug de Hakaa). This is precisely what is called an action in Kabbalah. Thus, one is intended for the corporeal world while the other for the spiritual world, and one does not cancel the other.

What does it mean to strive for a spiritual action, for Zivug de Hakaa, which is called a commandment, and for receiving the light, which is called the Torah, the holy names? It is written that a person must attain the entire Torah, which is called “buying the Torah.” Buying means acquiring it through the surrounding light so that all the holy names, the entire revelation of the Creator become clothed within a person.

If you have an aspiration for this, you should engage in it. And if not, then study the Pentateuch, the Mishnah, and the Gemara; that is your Torah. The two paths are distinct; we must understand that they are separate from one another.

I learned from Rabash not to antagonize those whose desire remains within the confines of this world. They want to convince me that it is better to halt one’s development than to advance. That is true because “he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.” But they do not understand that it is impossible to stop development, that this world has a goal, and it evolves in accordance with that purpose.

They have a very strong connection with the Creator, which is why they are called the holy still level. But at what level is this connection? At the minimal inanimate level, when a person performs an action exactly as it is written, and nothing more.

This is called the “inanimate” level because a person does not develop: Just as he was taught at the age of their Bar Mitzvah to put on Tefillin and was told that from that age he is a Jew and must observe the commandments, so he continues until the end of his life. And here, nothing must be changed, neither taking away nor adding anything.

The inanimate level remains in the same state, does not change, and is irreversible. In this state, a person is connected with the Creator in a certain way; he continually does the same thing, and this is his measure of adhesion. Therefore, nothing can influence him, no matter what happens in the world: whether going into exile, returning from exile, enduring exterminations, whatever occurs. The “still” can withstand and pass through all of this. It has a foundation, a very strong point of adhesion, that does not change.

However, there is a great deficiency here; it cannot develop and cannot attain the goal of creation. But this point is very important, which is why Baal HaSulam always told his students to preserve this inanimate level within themselves.

Rabash talked about one of the Vizhnitz Hasidim who came to Baal HaSulam one day. At some point, he told Baal HaSulam that he wanted to follow his path, like a Gerrer Hasid, since Baal HaSulam wore the same type of clothing as the Gerrer Hasidim. Baal HaSulam replied: What difference does it make? All of this is purely external. On the contrary, you should preserve all your customs; remain a Vizhnitz Hasid and do what they do.

Why? If you enter a state of descent, you will not fall like an ordinary Jew from the marketplace; at least, you will fall like a Vizhnitz Hasid. And when you gradually begin to rise from the descent, you will still remain a Jew in some way. Therefore, it is important where a person falls. In other words, it is good to rise from the inanimate level of holiness because if you fall, then you fall back into it.

I am not going to abolish this upbringing because without it, the Jewish people would cease to exist.
[360189]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/10/26, Rabash, “What Is the Gift that a Person Asks of the Creator?”

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Everything we study in Kabbalah must be translated into an internal, sensory language. In mathematical terms, Behinot, Sefirot, Partzufim, we simply explain more precisely what is happening within us.

We must not imagine this as existing outside us; therefore, images and pictures are forbidden in Judaism. You know that for thousands of years, nothing was depicted.

In earlier times (during the tenth to fifteenth centuries), there were occasional engravings, but as a rule, there were no images. Why? This follows from the law: “Do not imagine anything existing outside you beyond your sensations.” Feelings cannot be depicted; they can only be recorded. And Kabbalists recorded them.

Therefore, the language should not confuse us. When reading the Torah, the Talmud, or Kabbalah, it does not matter in which language they are written, we must bring what we read inside ourselves and translate it into the language of feelings.

Then, beyond the Machsom, we will be able to communicate without language, through the direct transmission of feelings. This is called adhesion; it is achieved by aligning our corrected desires. No external language is needed then; everything is transmitted because a commonality exists: each person is not only within himself but is, to some degree, outside himself.

To the extent that we exist outside ourselves, we become included in the common field of communication known as the Creator. We understand one another completely, express ourselves to one another, and connect without any words.
[361971]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/24/26, Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003

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Question: Where can I find the strength to work before the Machsom?

Answer: Only in the group. The group should give each of us an example of what should be. Therefore, we need to find a group that will transform us.

We cannot change ourselves on our own, but since we were once a collective Kli, despite the fact that we have become individualistic egoists, our root lies precisely in it. Therefore, whether we want it or not, whether we resist it or not, we will ultimately desire what this common Kli dictates to us.

No matter what kind of person you are, advertising, persuasion, and the opinion of the crowd will influence you, because our root is where we are connected to each other. Therefore, no matter how much of an egoist I am or how much I place myself above everyone else, I depend on the collective opinion. Every one of us does. We should make use of this fact.

This is the only aspect of free will that we possess. I now realize that the environment, through its opinion, can change any values in me, dictate my views regarding my entire life, the universe, convince me that dying is good and living is bad, or the opposite, or shape my perception of all of existence.

Therefore, I must organize society in such a way that it will dictate spiritual values to me, values that will be imprinted in me. The friends will convey this information in such a way that I will change, and nothing else will remain in me.

I will change in such a way that I will want to approach Machsom, I will want this Creator, who is now completely opposite to me, I will want to live in the upper world, although that life is completely opposite to the present, egoistic one. Such a re-evaluation of values can take place in me if the group I am in cultivates spiritual values within itself.

Therefore, the most important thing for us is to create such a group.
[361982]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/24/26, Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003

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Baal HaSulam clearly distinguishes between the general and the particular Torah. “The opinion of the Torah is opposite to the opinion of the masses,” and the two should not touch each other or interfere in each other’s affairs. We are talking about a completely different Torah, a different approach, a different spirit. The entire course of life for us differs from that of the masses.

Within ourselves, within our thoughts, within our intention, we are constantly tormented by questions: “At what stage am I? What is happening to me?” And so on. Everything for us is internalized. For them, the external part rules: a constant intensification of external actions. And this is good; it is necessary. As long as there is no inner part, we engage in the external. This form of education was introduced by the Kabbalists.

Baal HaSulam writes that the destruction of the First Temple did not have such an profound impact, but after the destruction of the Second Temple, the very concept of Lishma (for the sake of the Creator) vanished without a trace. The surrounding light withdrew, and the Temple was destroyed. The destruction of the Temple means that this illumination was no longer present among the people.

It is the same with us. Sometimes, from the material you absorb, you experience a spiritual ascent, when it seems to you that you sense the Creator, that you have, as if, come back to life and are floating in the heavens.

And then suddenly you feel like a complete fool who has nothing and does not understand a single word. And yet, you have a distant illumination showing you that, compared with a good state, your present state is bad. But what will happen if even this illumination is taken away from you?

That is what happened during the destruction of the Temple. With the destruction of the First Temple, the illumination that had existed among the people, that allowed people to feel they were in spirituality and gave them a sense of inspiration and connection, departed. This illumination disappeared but left them its reverse side, which gave them a feeling of at least some connection with spirituality, a feeling that spirituality exists.

By proceeding from the opposite, people at least knew what Lishma was. Instead of the light of Mochin de Haya, which shone from afar during the time of the First Temple, now, during the time of the Second Temple, the light of Mochin de Neshama came to them. It also shone from afar, but nevertheless, it shone.

And after the destruction of the Second Temple, people lost the feeling that their state was bad compared with the light, and awareness of the meaning of Lishma disappeared. They found themselves in the state of a donkey that knows nothing. Baal HaSulam writes about this in the book A Sages Fruit, in the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.”
[360326]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/26, Rabash, “One Should Always Sell Everything He Has and Marry a Wise Disciple’s Daughter”

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When a person breaks free from egoism and crosses the Machsom, a period begins in which they receive the upper light to purify Galgalta ve Eynaim, that is, his finest desires: Aviut zero, one, and half of Aviut two, up to the middle of Bina—Shoresh, Aleph, and GAR de-Bet. All this takes place during the period from Passover to Shavuot. What does this mean?

The exodus from Egypt, Passover, is the crossing of the Machsom, the exit from egoism. It includes many transitions and states too. Can you imagine how many intermediate states a person must pass through before it can truly be said that he has passed through something? Afterward, he receives the light and purifies within himself 49 Sefirot up to the 50^th Sefira (the 50 gates of Bina) and enters Bina. Why 50? Is Bina not 40?

The letter “Mem” is a closed letter and symbolizes Bina, because Bina is, as it were, closed like Noah’s Ark. Its form resembles a closed box, a spiritual knot inside which only one quality is concentrated: complete bestowal, complete detachment from oneself. In such a case, a person fears nothing and nothing can influence him; he is above himself, without any connection to himself. Such qualities bring spiritual light to our egoism.

In this case, this box (that is, our soul, all our qualities) is filled with the light of Hassadim. This light of complete bestowal, of complete detachment from oneself is also called Noah’s Ark, because in this form, a person can save himself and is dependent on no one and nothing. He is not afraid of either a hurricane or a flood.

The flood, too, is caused by the forces of Bina (water). But this is water in which all of Malchut and all of Hochma are revealed, the entire light of Hochma and Malchut’s fierce desire. In other words, the flood is like a concentration of external and internal forces: from within, the forces of pure Bina; and from without, all the other forces, which are supposedly also included in Bina.

Bina is a very complex category. It builds the soul in such a way that, from within and from without, the soul is under these waters: from within, under the quality of pure Bina, complete bestowal; and from without, as if under qualities opposite to Bina, which make intense use of Hochma and Malchut. At the same time, the soul becomes stronger and acquires such qualities that it can later raise from within itself a light of Hassadim sufficient even to receive the light of Hochma “Al Menat Lehashpia,” “for the sake of the Creator.”

After all, Bina simply bestows; it wants nothing. But when it is hardened by passing through the flood, it develops such strength that it can even receive the light of Hochma. It is no longer afraid of anything.

When a person acquires the qualities of Bina, all his qualities say: “Naaseh ve-nishma”—that is, “we will accept the Torah and fulfill it”; we will correct egoism. For when the qualities of Bina, GE, are acquired, nothing yet happens to our original qualities; we simply acquire the qualities of Bina. Only afterward do we begin to work with the genuine qualities, with the qualities of Malchut.

Therefore, it is said that when the entire people gather (the person is described as a people, meaning that he consists of all kinds of qualities: men, women, children, and elders, all of these being qualities within a person) at Mount Sinai (Sinai comes from the word “Sinah,” hatred), that is, when hatred arises within him from the side of Bina toward the qualities of Malchut, then everyone, as it were, cries out with one voice: “We agree!” In other words, all the qualities of a person have already been purified and prepared to such an extent that they agree to accept Kabbalah.

Kabbalah is the method of working with egoistic qualities, from the word “Lekabel” (to receive), that is, how to receive the upper light, the light of Hochma, already in order to bestow. Then the state called “the giving of the Torah” arises, and in this way egoism itself is corrected.
[362025]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/25/26, Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003

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